XVIII - Crowding
~~~(XVIII)~~~
It had been almost a week since classes had started. Oxon was beginning to find a groove with all this school work. And while he still struggled with the material, he wasn't failing at least.
He'd had one other fight in combat class this week too. Oxon forgot the guy's name, but he wasn't memorable so much as his weapon was. He fought with a cattle prod for some strange reason, and seriously, does he really kill grim with that? Unluckily, Oxon's leather gloves and metal armor had not insulated him from a good amount of the attacks. There were moments where the current had run through his scale mail and into him and caused him no shortage of pain.
He had played smart by creating space and using his longer ranged weapons to chip at his opponents armor. The short weapon was hardly able to stop the onslaught of dust rounds. He'd come out on top, but only barely. Only 10% above the red was his victory. He'd learned to be wary of electricity that day.
And honestly, Oxon wished he could be back in the ring right now. He had been interested to meet Professor Port, from what info Cinder had on the man, he had once been one of the more prolific huntsmen in his youth. The old saying "respect the old man in a young man's profession" had come to mind. And even more exciting, was learning more about Grimm and how to kill them. Oxon merely shot him from a distance in most cases.
But now actually being in Grimm Studies, Oxon wished he was anywhere else. He was invested at first, thinking the story being told was just a quirky warm up. But no, it was the. Whole. Class. Oxon could feel his sanity and consciousness fighting a losing battle.
Looking down a row in front of him, he saw Nora, Yang, and Jaune fast asleep. Ruby was playing on her scroll from behind a book. Blake was reading, smut? The closer he looked at the words, the more awkward he felt. The only ones that seemed to actually be paying attention were Pyrrha and Weiss. Ren was almost in that category, but the thousand yard stare kept him out.
The man had been droning on for the entire hour and a half. Any respect he'd had for the man had been mulched. A glance at the other three in his group showed similar faces. Mercury was not even trying to hide that he was asleep, Emerald was on her phone, and Cinder seemed ready to self immolate.
That or immolate the man she had warned them about. She said "be careful, he's a tremendous threat" and "Port was known to have the highest kill count of his generation." Cinder was likely frustrated at the man being so different from what she'd investigated.
Not even she can win 'em all, huh.
Oxon looked at the notes he'd attempted to write and frowned at them.
Be careful of Grimm, unless you have a superpowered gift of "manliness" then you only hope is to escape. Port used his essence of testosterone to beat a Goliath. The large Grimm is no match for… His raw masculinity? Beware of barmaids who steal all your lien.
"What the actual fuck." Ripping out the page he balled it up to discard later. Clearly there was nothing he was getting from this. How is this man a teacher? He's a blowhard in every sense of the word. He let out a sigh of disappointment at the wasted time, he was not looking forward to more classes with the man.
Oxon was at least happy to see that the class was over, judging by the clock on the wall. He'd survived today it seemed, but the next class would require him to either have an energy drink or succumb to the sleep inducing voice.
The moment the bell let out, his team escaped the tormentor that was Port. It seemed the thoughts he'd had were shared between the other three criminals. Emerald not so gently woke up the silver haired murderer who joined them in a quick escape.
"What the hell was that? Seriously, I thought that class would never end."
"Says the guy who fell asleep after nine minutes."
"Says the girl who played Tetris after thirteen." Oxon jumped in to admonish the green haired girl. She was hardly perfect either.
Those two had immediately given up on the prospect of paying attention. The notes he had taken were worthless, but at least he'd tried.
"Like your 'notes' will actually mean anything."
The bickering was stopped before it could go any further by a jet of flame barely missing them.
Ah, right, Cinder was pissed. If he were a brave man, he'd bring up how they need to be wary about the fat professor seeing her use flame powers. Clearly she did not enjoy being so wrong as she was.
"Enough." The tone of her voice, the flames dancing on her fingers and the glare she gave them put the fear of the gods in them. None of them were brave enough to breathe let alone speak.
"If any of you says one more thing, I will give you the chance to see what it's like to be cremated." White none of them daring to challenge that, she stalked off, likely to violently destress.
He pitied the poor focus of her ire. Unless it was the green or silver haired duo. Then he'd cheer her on.
Once Cinder was well out of sight the three let out their held breaths.
"Dang, honestly thought she was about to burn something down for a second." Mercury put on his "cool guy" face, but it didn't fool either of them.
"Maybe we'd be lucky and she'd have toasted you."
"Maybe she'd be nice enough to kill me, it'd be better than dealing with you two sociopaths." Oxon preferred they die, but this way he let out a decent barb, annoyingly enough, neither of them seemed affected.
Mercury opened his mouth, likely to degrade him, but closed it when he saw something behind Oxon.
A hefty slap on his spine caused him to stumble forward. Whipping his head he saw Yang with a shit eating grin looking at him.
"Hey Ox, do you have a good rest during nap time?"
Nap time? She must have meant Port's class since she had been fast asleep as soon as the lecture started. Smart.
"I was not aware of how… Unstimulating the class would be. I tried to make notes, but I don't think there will be a quiz on how to avoid being scammed in Mistral by a pr-escort." He caught himself before he could say prostitute, Yang had been moving to cover Ruby's ears and her eyes flashed red.
"Yeah, doubt it."
"So those were your teammates huh, I wanted to introduce myself to them." A glance behind him showed the retreating forms of his team. Oxon let out an internal sigh of relief now that they were gone.
"Well, they're not the most sociable of people." They left him to be the one who interacted with the general population of Beacon while they worked on whatever plans were going behind the scenes.
"Coming from the broody ax man himself? They gotta be something else then." Yang was unaffected by the flat glare he gave her. Surely he wasn't that bad, right?
Shaking his head, he prepared to leave to train with his revolvers. He was getting better at quick drawing them and his hammer fanning was lightning quick, but his long range shooting needed work.
He only made it a few steps before Ruby burst into view. Her hands were on her hips and leveled a stare at him. He was immediately uncomfortable with the attention.
"Did you forget?"
His nervous tick of scratching behind his ear in effect, Oxon was unaware of what she meant. She read the look on his face easily and her face became deadpan.
"You're not gonna flake on us too? JNPR is having a study session apparently." A glance at the passing team showed an apologetic Pyrrha, a bored Jaune, a consoling Ren, and a sleepy Nora.
"Well I did in fact forget, for which I apologize, I was heading to get in some more training." Ruby seemed to deflate at that and a tickle of shame brushed through him. "But I can always do that another time"
It seemed he was finally begging to get used to the tiny terror. He knew she was stronger than he was, but now he also knew her personality. She was a kind and simple soul. It seemed they were getting together in the library again by the route he was led down.
They sat conspicuously close to team JNPR who was beginning to read their educational material. It seemed the only game they brought was Remnant, The Game again. After deliberating on who would play, Oxon volunteered to be on a team with Weiss, since the two of them combined just barely made a competent player. Yang said he should pair up with Blake since she knew even less, but the look the black haired girl gave him made him wary. She seemed extra prickly today.
He and Weiss may have been putting their brains together, and the girl was normally very smart. But the two of them were still unaccustomed to this game, and they were bumbling through it in a sad mockery of strategy. Ruby and Yang seemed like the only two people with an actual chance, and Blake seemed even more distracted than usual.
It was currently Ruby's turn, and she was muttering to herself as she looked at the other three opponents. He and Weiss were confusedly looking at their cards, Oxon played as Atlas last time, and Weiss had never played. Yang was looking at her cards with a confident smile, clearly she had something good. Blake however wasn't even looking at her hand, instead they were face down.
Ruby suddenly declared war on her sister "Yang Xiao Long! Prepare your kingdom for battle!
Yang pumped her fist in excitement. "Bring it on!"
Ruby stood up and loudly declared her move.
"I deploy the Atlesian Airfleet!" Yang gave a mock gasp at the attack. "Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!" She made a strange hand gesture and made a poor imitation of a jet engine.
"You fiend!"
All of a sudden Ruby went from standing tall to peaking over the table. "And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time only lasts one turn." She seemed smug until the elder sister began to laugh.
"Pretty sneaky sis, but you just activated my trap card!" Yang flipped over a card that had the image of a large nevermore, causing Ruby to freeze in shock. "Giant Nevermore!"
The slamming of the table was unnecessary, Oxon thought. He had to put the pieces back where they had been. "If I roll a seven or higher, their feathers will slice your fleet in two!"
Ruby was undaunted, leaning over the table to point at Yang. "But, if you roll a six or lower, the Nevermore will turn on your own forces."
"That's just a chance I'm willing to take."
"Do you know what's going on?" Weiss seemed lost at the back and forth between the two. Oxon only played the game once, and Jaune had been ruthless, he didn't learn much.
"Look, Weiss, I have no clue, I only lasted like six turns the other day." Truly, they were both lost.
The die roll made by Yang ended up as a nine, signifying the death of the air fleet. Ruby moand in sadness at the loss of her "fearless soldiers" and the two seem to go back and forth while Yang reaps loads of spoils from the scuffle. Yang began tossing a few game pieces around and Oxon watched as one bounced off of Jaune's head.
Hah.
Yang turned to the duo and informed them it was their turn. Weiss was holding the cards and Oxon was looking at them from over her left shoulder. They looked at their cards in an attempt at a last minute strategy, but came up empty.
Weiss spoke for the both of them. "I have… Absolutely no idea what's going on."
The blonde moved over and out an arm over Weiss' shoulder and inspected their hand. "Look, it's easy. You're playing as Vacuo, which means all Vacuo based cards come with a bonus!"
"That sounds dumb." Was it? It made sense to him. He'd had to scavenge lots from fallen towns before he got to Vale.
"See you've got Sandstorm, Desert Raider, oh oh! Resourceful Raider." She was rearranging the cards to give them a better idea of what was in their possession. "That means you can take Ruby's discarded Airfleet and put it in your hand!"
"That sounds good, right?" He'd seen how it easily fell to the Nevermore, but it's not like she had more traps. Right?
Yang seemed to continue the explanation so he paid attention. "And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance boost against natural hazards, you could use Sand Storm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom. Just know, I will not forget this declaration of war." And with that, Yang slowly scooted back to her corner, giving them each a look promising retribution.
"And that means?" Wess still had questions it seemed, and to be fair, he did too.
A despondent Ruby answered the question. "That means you're just three moves from conquering Remnant…" They were? Really!?
Weiss' nervous nature shifted in an instant. Gone was the shy confusion, now there was malicious confidence. Oxon scooted his chair away slightly.
"Muahahahahaha!" He scooted another inch away. "Yes, fear the almighty power of my forces! Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms!"
"Trap card."
"Huh?" Blue and hazel eyes looked confusedly at Yang who held a card out at them.
She then proceeded to rearrange all the pieces on the board in a flurry of movement. Oxon had noticed that the forces of Vacuo disappeared.
"Your armies have been destroyed."
"What… Already?" Oxon's jaw was hanging loose in shock at how quickly the tables turned. They had been so close, and had come so far, but in the end, it didn't even matter.
Weiss slumped into her chair and wealth at the sudden blow. "I hate this game of emotions we play!" Oxon was knocked out of his chair as Ruby moved from her chair to sit in Weiss' lap so they could console each other.
"Stay strong Weiss, we'll make it through this together."
"Shut up, don't touch me!" The ice queen's words meant little when she too grabbed onto her partner for comfort.
Oxon felt abandoned.
"Alright Blake, you're up."
Said girl jumped at her name and looked around her. "Oh um, sorry, what am I doing?"
Was she not paying attention? At all?
"You're playing as Vale, and trying to conquer the kingdoms of Remnant."
"Right…"
Oxon had gotten back in his chair when Jaune moved to stand between him and Weiss. "Hey, can I play?"
Ruby softly shook her head. "Sorry Jaune, we've already got more than the usual people."
"Well, in all fairness, do Ox and Weiss even count as a single person?" The insult to their skill level was rude. Sadly it was not incorrect.
Weiss seemed to try and shoo him away in a more clear manner. "Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt you possess." Did she not see how he played the last time? Dude can't fight for shit, but he could probably bring this around for them. He was going to begrudgingly voice his thoughts when Yang spoke up.
"Uhh, you attacked your own naval fleet two turns ago." Yang apparently was not going to let that embarrassment slide.
"I say that was Oxon's fault. I had everything planned out perfectly." Wow, ice cold… Not his fault she didn't tell him of her master plan before he deployed the navy.
Poor brave sailors...
The blonde, lovestruck fool remained strong in face of everything. "Bring it on Ice Queen, I'll have you know that I've been told I'm a natural born leader." Maybe all his energy went to his head instead of his muscles.
"By whom? Your mother?" Weiss smiled subtly at the thumbs up Oxon gave her from behind Jaune.
Jaune sputtered a little bit but held strong. "And Pyrrha!"
Said unbeatable combat champion waved kindly at them. "Hello again!"
"C'mon, let me play your hand for a turn!" Oxon once more was about to accept the offer for them but was cut off.
"I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo." Oxon put a hand to his head when his partner held their cards defensively.
"Why not? You've trusted me with way more important stuff before!" He chuckled and pointed at Blake. "I mean you told us all that Blake is secretly a f-"
In an instant Pyrrha was beside her leader and covering his mouth. "Fun loving person, whom we all admire and respect." She chuckled nervously and Oxon saw multiple eyes glance at him. Blake however was giving Jaune a nasty glare.
Right, they think I don't know.
Jaune awkwardly rubbed the back of jmhos head as he realized his near slip. "Right, that. Ladies, enjoy your battle." He gave a deep bow as two more arrivals walked in.
"Sup, losers." Sun, the blonde haired faunus from the club and the list Cinder had given Oxon stood behind Blake with a peace sign up.
"Hey Sun!"
"Ruby, Yang, Blake, Ice Queen." He was going through the group at the table when he paused at the sight of Oxon, likely not remembering him or his name.
Wess took offense at his greeting. "Why does everyone keep calling me that?"
"I wonder why…" Oxon muttered under his breath, and by the look she gave him she had heard it. Oops.
"I'm here to reintroduce you to my old friend here. Been a while since the food fight." The blue haired boy shivered at that. Was he another victim?
Said blue haired guy looked at the tables of RWBY and JNPR "Uhhh, aren't libraries for reading?"
"Thank you!" Ren finally spoke up after an afternoon of silence.
"Pancakes!" Nora jolted awake after the grueling "study session" she'd had.
"Shut up, don't be a nerd.
"Gi gi gi! Intellectual, thank you."
Weiss seemed to be in a whole other mood when tall, blue, and intellectual walked in. "So Neptune, you said you're from Mistral?"
"Yup, Haven." He walked over to stand next to her, taking jaunes place and separating Weiss and Oxon. "And I definitely remember you, Snow Angel."
Oxon got out of his seat after getting tired of being ignored by the other guys. He noticed the blush on Wess' face and the glare on Jaunes He gave Jaune a pat on the back and an unkind smile.
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Pleasure to see you again."
"Hey, poor luck dude, can't win 'em all." Jaune was not comforted at all. Too bad Oxon didn't care.
He watched with an amused smile as Jaune silently fumed at how Neptune was doing a much better job at getting the girl's attention. Hilariously enough, he was using similar material as the poor blonde. Ahhhh, joining them today was definitely worth it.
Honestly, if Weiss was into the smooth talker types, then so be it. Jaune would need to up his game if he wanted a chance.
From his observation, it seemed like Sun was also trying his best with Blake. Which did not go as well as his partner's attempt. The moody girl quickly left the group and the library.
Then Nora had the lovely idea to try and console the fit blonde.
"Women."
The group turned to the unabashed ginger before ignoring it.
It's Nora.
"Ahh don't worry about it Sun, Blake's just been in a funk lately. It's not personal, I think." Yang tried to help her fellow blonde. Sun seemed encouraged by her words and quickly went back to his cheerful self.
"Hopefully, also nice to see you again, Uhhh…"
Catching his gaze, Oxon reintroduced himself.
"Right, yeah! Totally knew that!" The blonde seemed to brush past any embarrassment fairly quickly. "Didn't expect to see you again. Didn't know other students went to clubs and such."
Oxon recalled their first meeting at The Club. Cheering to failure and such. Not a great first impression.
"I wasn't a student then, I actually worked there before being scouted." The less lies the better, the easier it is to keep a story. Oxon was glad he had at least one person to be able to confirm part of his story.
"Yeah! When Blake and I went to investigate some old friends of hers." He seemed nervous all of a sudden, likely thinking Oxon knew a bit too much.
"Yeah, she had a different ribbon on at the time, but she seemed just as... Spirited?" He didn't really remember anything about the brief encounter other than her cat ears and attractiveness. Neither of which seemed like a safe thing to say while in present company. So he used the excuse of alcohol. "Then again it wasn't much of a conversation."
"Yeah, she got a new one recently." Sun quickly agreed in hopes to salvage something.
"Alright, enough of this fumbling reunion, are we ever going to finish this game? I've just about won!"
Yang's attention had moved back to the game and with Blake's forfeiture, needed someone to fill in. Jaune tried to volunteer but didn't get a single syllable in before Neptune chimed in.
"I've played a few times, can I jump in?" Well, hopefully he would be an easier opponent than Jaune. Not that team Vacuo would come out on top, they were far in last with no hope of recovery.
A few turns later, Vale had destroyed Atlas, and was on its way through Mistral. Yang was desperate to thwart the blue haired Mistralian.
"Why are you focusing on me!? Vacuo has been on the brink of death for the last two turns!"
"The resilience of the brave Vacuan people have done well to survive." Weiss continued to use flowery language to explain their luck. But in reality, it was due to the affections of Vale's leader.
"Neptune's just trying to win brownie points!"
"Don't be salty cause you're about to lose." Neptune became smug when winning it seemed.
The game continued from there with Yang trying to knock the duo Vacuans out before she was eliminated. Thankfully Oxon and Weiss had enough stall tactics to outlast her. Then, inevitably, Neptune won. He was graceful in victory, only to Weiss though, which was easily noticeable to all.
Quickly getting tired, he bid Weiss a good night and went back to his room. Upon returning and laying on his bed, he received a message from his least favorite crook.
Ginger Sleazebag: Hey bucko, I bet you must've had a great week. Look, I need you to help me out with a project. Are you available?
Well this is going to be a joy…
~~~(XVIII)~~~
An issue I've come to see is Oxon's shield arm. Do I just call it that or try and give it a name? Hmmmmmmmm…. If I named it, I'm not sure what part of Oxon's inspired folklore would fit… speaking of Oxon's inspiration, anyone figure it out? I've left some pretty sizable clues.